1. Jeremy CanutoHaving spent the last 4 days at Cho Ray hospital assisting some members of our staff (in separate accidents!) I would urge you all to do 4 things:A. Buy a REAL helmet. With a cheap one you may as well not have one at all.B. Buy insurance. For the sake of a couple of hundred dollars you could avoid a mountain of hospital bills and rehab costs.C. Get a license. Without one your insurance is NOT valid and they will refuse to pay out for anything.D. Make sure in your wallet there is a contact number

2. Use only reputable taxi’s such as Vinasun, Mailinh and Grab (Had bought Uber’s Vietnam]. You will be able to find Vinasun stand at the airport upon arrival to VN by going to the departure level (top level)and going to the far right upon exit. Jon Gilkison – You can get Vinasun and Mailinh on arrival level on the far left now.Linh Tran – Uber or Grab (taxi, car, bike – bike is VERY cheap), and you can pay in cash for Grab, as well as knowing the exact price you will have to pay.

3. If staying longterm, you will need to register with the police ward in your area. If staying at a hotel, the hotel will handle it. If renting a place, usualy hte landlord will but not always. You will need to register if you plan to extend your visa.

4. There are a lot of snatchers about. Do not talk on your phone in the open or have your belongings like purses laying about or even hanging by your side ever.

5. Anh Le – “No valuable in the check in luggage when traveling in and out of Vietnam” those suckers working the luggage line are the scums of the earth

Ant problem– Borax is called ‘hàn the’ in VN. It can be found in any basic street shop that sells soda’s, detergents, candy breads etc. – You can also use an alternative, ‘ axit boric ‘ which is boric acid which is sold in pharmacies. 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 1/2 tablespoons Borax and 1 1/2 cups warm water and dispense with cotton balls or paper towels

Airport shuttle/bus– Two dedicated Airport Shuttle buses to popular District 1 destinations including to Ben Thanh bus station near the market. The 152 costs between 30 cents and a dollar, depending on the amount of luggage you have. And the new airport shuttles cost between 12 000 and 40 000 VND (< $2), regardless of how much luggage you have.– Route 109 from the Airport to District 1. It terminates at Park 23/9, right near Pham Ngu Lao backpacker district and goes via Ben Thanh Bus station (it leaves from the same platform as the 152 at this station) They run every 15-20 minutes between 5:30 am and 1:30 am, cost for one-way trip is 20,000 dong and the entire journey takes approximately 45 minutes.

Babies – half viet/foreigner– The hospital will provide a record of the birth, which you can take to the appropriate VN government office to register for the VN birth certificate. Foreign countries will then accept the VN birth certificate when applying for the babies foreign passport and birth certificate. I have heard that if both parents are from the same country it is possible to take the hospital record directly to the consulate and have a birth certificate from your home country.

Banks – Oct 2016– ACB allows VND account with passport only and debit card for use for international and online. with the new law, sometimes they do, sometimes they dont. . -Joel Marold – Citibank 🙂 zero fees and better rate than the best rate here which is a gold shop– Mary Brady – Just opened at Shinhan. Passport only, issued a visa debit card immediately and have been using it online no problem– Mick Rasmussen No problems depositing money at ANZ, no questions asked. You can’t use their Visa debit cards for online payments. only payments to other Vietnamese bank accounts

Bus – city– Jennifer Foster – you can also go to busmap.vn and download the Saigon Bus map with the routes and schedules and up to date bus locations– Jennifer Foster – buyttphcm.com.vn is the official bus site. It has so much information, a map of every route and a separate map for each route with the address and visual of every stop, the hours of operation and any news/updates on new or modified routes. It’s in Vietnamese, but once you figure out where a few things are and/or translate it, it’s very, very useful.– Scott Sommerville – TripGo is a very useful app if you want to get around the city by bus.– Nutiteq app– BusMap – Xe buyt thanh pho app

Chiropractor– François Babelaere – ACC American Chiropractic Clinic on hai ba trung street– Serge Yurovsky – you can add Maple clinic in d7 as chiropractor– Thomas Dixon Chiropractor – Dr. Bill, APT Clinic. 9B Phung Khac Khoan, District 1. Phone: 0909221388.(Bill has 20+ years of experience running his own clinic in the states, I go to him and I think he does a pretty damn fine job)–https://www.facebook.com/maplehealthcare/?hc_location=ufi

Driver License – VN currently accepts international license though cops will play dumb or not know but the law was effective from Jan 1st 2015 in VN– supposedly you can obtain a international driver license from VN from this website http://www.drvn.gov.vn/web/guest [If anyone who reads Vietnamese well can confirm and direct us how as the english section is non existent]– Translate your countrys Driver License into a Vietnamese Driver License. Will only be vallid until your current Vietnam Visa expires. 1. One copy of your passport with the photo page and the visa page (both visa and passport need to be valid).2. One copy of your existing driving license, with a translated and notarized version. Go to Government Translation Office at 47 Le Duan Boulevard, District 1, HCMC (corner opposite Diamond Plaza). Go to counter No. 1 and ask for your driver’s license to be translated into Vietnamese.3. Three passport size photos (3×4) 4. Go to HCMC Transportation Office 252 Ly Chinh Thang street, ward 9, district 3 fill out form and submit. 135,000 VND processing fee– Unexpired Vietnamese Driver license – you need to take the written test which is in vietnamese (no help/translator allowed)and the driving test.– convert your driver license into an international driving permit in vn. You will need a valid driver’s license, passport, and permanent residence card. It states that the driver license must be vietnamese but unsure. We will know more as time passes or in Oct 2015 when VN starts issuing these permits. The max time will be 3 years. – https://www.facebook.com/vnlicense – can help you get a real unexpired license– A2 unexpired license – Rod: 0963 400 643 or 0934 932 360

Electricity3-4.000 VND is common price per unit , Oct 2016owners/landlords get one bill for the building so tiered pricing doesnt work. Depending on your outlook, some are making extra money off elec rates they charge or using it to pay for communal electricity like the kitchen etc.

Marriage – Marry in Vietnam – Foriegner spouse – Get Affidavit of Single Status (Certificate of Non Impediment), Birth Certificate, Health and Mental check and photocopy of passport. Bring all papers to Ministry office and Foreign office to legalize/notarize it. Send or bring all papers to VN for translation and legalization/notarized again or you can send it to a VN embassy in your country. Vietnamese spouse – Certificate of Non Impediment (Affidavit of Single Status) from home town, Birth Certificate, Health and Mental check, Photocopy of So Ho Khau and Photocopy of ID card. Bring all paper to Ministry Office of the vietname spouse hometown and apply for marriage doc. Set up interview date ( this step could be ending eventually) Pictures/videos and the like of being together will help.

Mechanic– Jose Tuset – This guy is the best and cheapest Mechanic in saigon. He speaks English perfectly 01207664650

Money exchange – any gold shop but 86 mac thi buoi is very popular due to best rates

Moped renting– https://www.facebook.com/tigitmotorbikes/?hc_location=ufi highly recommended– Chi’s cafe 84 8 3836 7622– Motorbike Rental 3.837 – 4916– Saigon Scooter Centre 3.844 – 7816– Saigon Wheels 0995145465–https://www.facebook.com/motoHQsaigon/?fref=tsIt is recommended you never let the establishment never know where you live so that means you should go and pick up the moped yourself and input a false address due to rental places can go and steal your rental with a copy of the key. You will usually also have a choice to hand over your passport or a deposit. Passport prob isnt the best idea.

Onward Travel – it has to do with the airlines being responsible and paying for your return trip if you are refused entry and nothing to do with Immigration.– Many are never asked about it when checking in at the airport which doesnt mean you wont be ask either. Your choice in buying onward travel or not is up to you. You weigh the risk.– You can buy a fix for 10usd at https://flyonward.com/en/ or buy a ticket from sites like travelocity before you leave. They offer 24 hr cancellation.

Passport -USA no longer adds pages. Must get a new passport.-Go to immigration to have your VN visa transferred over. New visa with exactly the same info. Should cost 10usd.

Teaching in VN– its usually believed that CELTA over TESOL. In class over online. – Choice an agency to support: The best choice is EIV: www.eiv.edu.vn– ILA and Apollo are recommended schools to get certificate in VN.– ILA, Apollo and VUS are schools that do not discriminante. – requirements – Bachelor’s degree, CELTA/TESOL certificate. Criminal background check but not always required depending on school. Native speaker and white a big plus.

Note: perhaps if you dont mention once entering Cambodia that you only come for a visa run you only have to pay $30 for the visa.Also I was in the understanding that the Vietnamese (3 month single) visa was 25 usd, but maybe it changed or just ordinary Vietnamese corruption.. On the way back you can also take a random bus to HCMC, max $5.

Take about 6 hours for the whole trip. Have fun. Or just book a flight to Bangkok.

How much does it cost to live here– Bare minimum to live here independently in a non poor state is 500usd/month. Thats with no luxuries or any kind of frills though and everything is still clean and you eat a balanced cheap meal etc. – rent 150, food 100, visa 50, utilities 25, misc 175– You can easily go cheaper but you start to drift into the uncomfortable realm; also the skys the limit if you want to spend more.– Average spending per month would be 700-1000 for the average joe expat; more if you have higher expectations. Living with a significant other and sharing cost is obviously cheaper.